The Betrayal of Settling

I settled. I settled HARD. The American Dream: Getting married (bonus points of it is your high school sweetheart), raising a family. A dog. Good, steady jobs (bonus points for a good retirement). A house with a big yard. Two cars and annual vacations…It was in my sights, but always just out of reach. The American Dream betrayed me more than it served me. Perhaps, I betrayed myself in some way. Little did I know,—little did I understand the world. How many of us actually understand the world as a barely-there young adult? It wasn’t just the world I didn’t understand. I didn’t understand myself.